London's cheapest Met HD tickets

I haven't been to a Metropolitan Opera live cinema screening for quite a while. So I was shocked to find the going rate in London has risen to £30-£40 - about three times the price of a regular cinema ticket, and more than I generally pay for live opera. And yet they still sell out, often months in advance.

One alternative is provided by the 'Encore' screenings, rebroadcast a day or more after the live event. These are mostly priced at £20-ish, but a disadvantage for many is that they tend to be scheduled mid-day and mid-week.

For the true 'Live in HD' experience, the cheapest London tickets I can find are the Barnet Odeon's. OK, so it's a 30 minute tube ride from the centre of town (close to High Barnet station), but with seats at £15.50-£18 the prices make the journey worthwhile. And there are still plenty of tickets available, for everything.

Comments

[Rudolf]

Shocking admission prices! I have to consider myself lucky. Saw "Falstaff" for USD 15 and "Rusalka" for USD 18. London is seemingly becoming more and more unaffordable, alas!

[Richard]

Worth bearing in mind that if you are a Picturehouse member you save £7 and pay no booking fee for Met screenings (and other live opera/ theatre events)

[Ruth]

The best place I've found for Encore screenings, possible for those who work during normal office hours, is the Phoenix in East Finchley. It is, as far as I'm aware, the only cinema in London to have a Sunday-afternoon encore slot (i.e. the day after the live relay). It doesn't have the greatest sound system in the world, but has come to my rescue on a couple of occasions.

[Operaramblings.wordpress.com]

Yikes! Prices here have risen to C$26 (GBP 14 more or less). Cheaper than London but still more than double a Stehplatz at COC ($12)

[Faye]

I always go to Bluewater in Kent where the going rate for the Met relays is £15, but if you join the Showcase cinema's free loyalty scheme you get it even cheaper - for about £12.

The encore screenings are always cheaper, I usually pay about £8 with my loyalty discount

Every time I've been there it's been quite empty - average 25 to 35 people in the audience. And with the exception of yours truly, all over the age of 70

[Operaramblings.wordpress.com]

Actually just checked for comparison. One can get a six performance subscription to COC next season for $169. I bet that will be cheaper than the Met broadcasts by the time next season comes around.

[Graham Thomas]

It is £7.00 a ticket cheaper so £23.00 with membership at Picture Houses and if you go on the Tuesday lunchtime (usually very busy now) its only £13.00. You also get 3 free tickets with membership so that more or less gives you back the initial cost - and discounts at the bar and some restaurants..

[manou]

You should also grow older and get even more discounts at Picture Houses.

[AlisonC]

Wandsworth Cineworld usually about 16 quid booked online - with further discount if you're over 60.

[SJT]

All of which leaves me wondering quite why the Barbican and the BFI IMAX both charge £35 (except for the fact that they are both, in their very different ways, excellent cinemas, with first-rate sound, and in the Barbican's case, flawless projection: the Siegfried I saw at the IMAX suffered from digital drop-out and a whole stretch of Act III out-of-synch, whereas the Barb has an unblemished track-record). And both are always sold out on the opening day of booking

[Deborah]

I'm near two cinemas which broadcast the Met relays. Local Everyman Cinema is a nicer venue in a nicer town, ticket price £28 including a glass of prosecco; local Cineworld is £17.90, with 10% off if you register for myCineworld, so £16.11. Saving more than covers a whole bottle of prosecco! Oh, and there are the, ahem, delights of the town centre on a Saturday evening on the way back afterwards, the perfect antidote to an evening of high art.

Like Faye, I find that I'm often the youngest at a Cineworld, by several decades. The Met audiences at the Cineworld tend to be more clothed and have fewer tattoos than other cinema-goers as well.

Between them, the Everyman and Cineworld cinemas cover all screenings from the Met, Glyndebourne and ROH. Sorted!

[DESR]

I often find that I am the only person there under 45 or 50, let alone 70! A friend and I enjoyed Parsifal last year at the Wandsworth Cineworld and it was great to have space around us, comparatively decent prices, and neither too many bufton tuftons nor strained arty types. And even more, how delicious it is to seek out somewhere on a Saturday night where everyone else is gorging on pap and one can relax with some 'higher' culture. What would be UNrelaxing is to be paying much higher prices for the privilege of sitting next to the same rent-a-crowd one gets at the ROH, Glyndebourne etc and who block book everything so that one couldn't get in even if one tried. So: avoid Hampstead, Richmond etc and head to where the prices are cheap and the seats are plentiful! And Deborah if there is then something to follow around the corner which is a little 'earthier', to distract and amuse, so much the better!

[AlisonC]

The Cineworld showings I've been to weren't perfect - for example you can sometimes hear noise from the adjacent cinemas, and I don't think the audio quality is as good as at the Barbican or IMAX (or the HMV Curzon in Wimbledon for that matter). So I'm not surprised those ones are still popular despite the competition.

However I like the fact that you don't have to book months in advance for the Cineworld ones (although I think these "live" showings may be getting a bit more popular now).

[amac]

I live in Barnet but not actually done the Odeon for a "live" opera.

The IMAX prices have risen up slowly, five years ago it was around £20 and not very full. Now its £35 and more or less full, so I guess it is a market thing.

I have done other cinemas but in general I don't think the comfort of the seats and broadcast standard is up to the IMAX (or the Barbican). So I supose you pay your money and take your choice !

[james]

There has been a massive increase in the price of this sort of entertainment recently. If you are a family looking for something like this it suddenly becomes almost not worth it. you would be better off going somewhere for the day with them

[Miriam]

The main thing I don't like about Cineworld is that you don't choose the seat when you book. However as the cinema is hardly ever anything like full this is not a major problem. I have never had any problem with noise from the adjacent screens at the one I go to, and I have no complaints about the sound quality. When they started showing them they did tend to have the volume too loud, but they are getting better trained now. People go out to complain if they get it wrong.